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Sunday, May 4, 2014

This is the song of Queen Aliissá Suncrown, beloved Highborn Stormbringer, Love of the North-Northwest.

Aliissá was born when the Sun shone upon the Dawn-Snow atop the ancient mountains of the Far North. She was born again upon the North winds, which carried a summer thunderstorm to the ancestral archepelego in the southwest, showering its crystal coasts and shining meadows. In those days, Queen Aliissá was known by another name, a title she was granted by her island forebearers.

Aliissá grew and travelled for twenty-eight years (according to the Calendar of Men), at which point she came to the land of the Great Forest to meet with the Royals of the City of the Ancestors. But the Forest People did not recognise Aliissá, for she did not yet bear the Mark of Royalty and they feared and distrusted travellers from the Summer Lands. So Aliissá was driven out of the City of the Ancestors, and she journeyed to the East through the Hall of Mirrors.

When she reached the Eastern Shores, Aliissá beheld a vision of a great oncoming storm and heard the voice of the Lady of the Rose. Aliissá journeyed across the Eastern Lands, which was also the Realm of Mania. There, she met with her Verse-Sister the Erin Triune, who told her that she would become again the Once-And-Future Queen, but not of the Eastern Lands. Aliissá knew she must travel to the Red Tower, for upon that tower the Red King resided, with whom she desired a meeting to discuss the concept of The Dreamer and The Dream. Aliissá crossed the River of the Elder Spirits to reach the Red Tower, which was also the Heart of the World, and from that point on she was to be known as Aliissá the Underqueen, ruler of Maybes, Could-Have-Beens and the Space Between.

Queen Aliissá confronted the Red King atop his tower, for she was born of the Far North and knew the secret of language. And Queen Aliissá said unto him: “Behold this Dream where the Dream and Dreamer are once again one. I say this to you in the words of our ancestors, and in so doing I speak a truth.” Then the Red King winked out of this world, for Queen Aliissá channeled the light of the ether through her words, and the radiant sound resonated with the beat and melody of creation. This is why Aliissá is called Queen Aliissá Suncrown.

Queen Aliissá then went North into the Future, where she found the Tapestry of Paradox beginning to unravel under the light of the Moon. She once again met the Lady of the Rose there, who claimed to be the Keeper of the Tapestry and Lunar-Annointed, but Queen Aliissá knew this to be a lie as the Lady of the Rose was a spirit and spirits always deceived because this was their way. So Queen Aliissá told the Lady of the Rose “Please bother me no longer with your trifles and deceptions. Who cares for you?”. The Lady of the Rose didn't have an answer to that, so she left.

Queen Aliissá knew that this night was to be The Night When The Worlds Came Together, because she had made sure it was to be so. She spoke with the Lost Shamans, who recognised her as an ancestor of the future returned to them in their time of need. Queen Aliissá knew what the Moon was and what it meant, and it was this knowledge that allowed her to travel safely among the spirits and reweave the Tapestry of Time by reinstating the sacred connection between the Land, the Sea, the Sky and the Inexorable Duality of Being. While in the Future, Queen Aliissá also was reunited once more with the Storm of the North, whose wild and mighty declarations were as lightning arcing the Sky and driving snow on the wind. Queen Aliissá stood atop the highest mountain and spoke with the Storm, and as their words flowed together the Sun shone through the blizzard and the air filled with powdered diamonds.

Queen Aliissá Suncrown and Bringer of Storms then returned to the Days of the Eastern Lands, and travelled the world for many years learning, growing and helping those in need. But eventually, the Time came when she had seen all there was to see in this Time. Looking once more at the Future, Queen Aliissá saw that the Border of the Worlds was deteriorating once more, and because this was a story she had already heard, she returned to the Southwest and the Island of Eternal Summer, which was her birthright. Queen Aliissá Suncrown remained on the Island of Eternal Summer for two hundred years and departed this plane with it when the island disappeared from mortal sight. Meanwhile, outside the Blessed Isle, the universe had changed again.

When the two hundred years were up, Queen Aliissá consulted with her Ruling-Friends on the Blessed Isle, for she had heard rumours of a dangerous folly and great disasters to befall the Far North. Secrets were being held that had the power to reshape creation, and the Time had come once again to travel. Queen Aliissá's Ruling-Friends (who above all else understand and respect change) agreed, and advised her to be wary of the ever-shifting Poetic Geography of the World As It Now Was. The Blessed Isle itself remained “gone” in the mythic sense, but it too could feel the undercurrents of change brought on by the Voice of the Possipoints.

In the Far North, Queen Aliissá bore witness to the return of the the Master of Speech, brought upon by the Awful Fighting of the Men of the North. The Master brought with him an army of Philosophers, who declared they would lord over the story by divine right of their discourse and debate. Queen Aliissá sought the guidance of the Blessed Sky Men of the Land of Eternal Winter, who recognised her as one of their own come to them in their time of need. Queen Aliissá remembered her kinship with the Men of the North then, and was once again adopted by them, and they cheered her on when she brought down the Master of Speech with the power of her voice and the swiftness of her blade. But Queen Aliissá took pity on the other Philosophers, especially the Old Dragon, whom she had known fondly in a time before creation, and the memories of those shared summers Long Ago and Far Away allowed him to ascend to the Plane of the Ancestors.

Queen Aliissá also knew the Men of the North were looking for a powerful Construct of Future's Past, and that this would cause the Erasure of History. Infinite possipoints recoiled in terror as the forces of the Master Narrative tapped into the Sacred Architecture, and it was only when History Folded In On Itself that the world was saved again. But this Construct was not the person Queen Aliissá was looking for: Her identity was revealed when Queen Aliissá forged an alliance with the Daughter of Blood and Steel to slay the King of Leeches, who sought to translate the Master Narrative for the Sunrise. Remembering her fealty to the Eastern Lands, its Triune and the Dawn Times, Queen Aliissá helped the Daughter of Blood and Steel remember the Sigil of Royalty and slay the King of Leeches, as she had done in the past. This is why Aliissá is called Queen Aliissá Suncrown.

Queen Aliissá and the Queen of Blood and Steel shared many adventures together after this, such as the Story of the Tonal City, The Journey to the Ether Upon the Wings of the Engines of Music and a return to the Present of the Future, where both Queens were remembered by the Lost Shamans. After this, Queen Aliissá and her Sword-Sister,whom she Loved dearly, parted ways in body, but not in mind or spirit, and the Young Queen (who was also the Triune) returned to the future upon the Winds of Tomorrow, where she met the Lieutenant and became the most beloved Saint of Gold, who was also known as Tomorrow's Guardian. The Saint of Gold had many adventures and made many close friends of her own, and the Universe itself recognised her Voice as the Blessed Melody of the Ancestors. But this is not her story.

Aliissá was born when the Sun shone upon the Dawn-Snow atop the ancient mountains of the Far North. She was born again upon the North winds, which carried a summer thunderstorm to the ancestral archepelego in the southwest, showering its crystal coasts and shining meadows. In those days, Queen Aliissá was known by another name, a title she was granted by her island forebearers.